


Family Honor

by VivArney



Category: Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 11:02:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5624614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VivArney/pseuds/VivArney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story takes place during the missing 15 years</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Honor

No snow flake falls in an inappropriate place.  
~~~~~~  
ZEN SAYING  
It was bitter cold as Kwai Chang Caine walked down the narrow country road. The snow had covered everything which made finding edible plants difficult. He hadn't had anything, but melted snow for two days and he was nearing exhaustion.

Suddenly, he felt a tug at his pants' leg and he was knocked to his knees. A split second later, another tug at his shoulder knocked him into a snow bank. He heard drunken laughter as pain blasted his senses. 

On the edge of unconsciousness, he tried to find his center and control the pain. He knew he had to escape from whoever was shooting, but he couldn't seem to gather enough energy to concentrate. The snow beneath him was slippery as he tried to get up and he fell face down into the ditch. Caine knew his body temperature was becoming dangerously low, but he was too weak from loss of blood to do anything about it.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there, bleeding into the snow when he heard a car pull up beside him.

Voices approached.

"I told you I saw something, Sadie," a female voice said insistently.

"Uck, it's just some tramp. Don't touch him, Elizabeth!"

A warm hand closed around his wrist. "He's alive! Help me get him out of the snow."

"Can't we just send somebody back for him?"

"He'll die!"

"What's another tramp? He's probably on drugs or drunk."

He tried to speak, but couldn't get his mouth to cooperate. Opening his eyes seemed like a good possibility, but he couldn't force them open. He could still feel the warmth of Elizabeth's hand on his arm. It  
moved the cuff of his coat and he heard her gasp as she spotted the dragon branded into the skin of his forearm. 

"He's Shaolin!" Elizabeth cried in astonishment. "Sadie, we've got to get him out of here!"

"He's what? Don't tell me you know this guy!"

"I'll explain later," Elizabeth promised. "He's going to need a doctor. Help me get him into the car."

"Okay, okay!" Sadie agreed.

He felt himself being lifted and carried a short distance. His body was too sapped of energy to be of any help despite his best intentions. He tried, but couldn't suppress a groan as one of the women got a grip on his injured shoulder. He fought an internal battle against the pain and the struggle seemed to clear his head.  
He was laid a little roughly - Sadie slipped and almost fell - in the back seat of a vehicle. The doors were closed and the engine roared to life.  
Someone turned on the heat and he groaned as the warmth brought back the pain that had been numbed by the cold.

"Turn it off!" Elizabeth demanded.

"Are you crazy?" Sadie cried. "It's freezing!"

"You want him to bleed to death? If he warms up, his blood will flow faster. We've got to get him to a doctor, but right now, the cold is saving his life."

He heard the heater snap off abruptly. The cold returned as did the numbness.

"So what's this Show lin?"

"That's Shaolin. It's a religious sect - Buddhist I think - my grandmother escaped from China before it went Communist. The Shaolin are well respected there."

"Oh great, a cult - like Jim Jones?" Sadie asked, remembering the horrible images of the mass suicide they'd seen on the news a few years earlier.

"No, Sadie, NOT like Jim Jones!" Elizabeth insisted. "They're peaceful. He's a priest."

"How can you tell?"  
"Did you see the mark on his arm? They have a dragon branded on one arm and a tiger on the other."

"Sounds pretty brutal to me."

He didn't hear any more of the conversation as he slipped into darkness and silence. 

[ [ [ [ [ 

He woke as pain exploded from his shoulder. They were moving him again. He tried to walk, but putting weight on his leg nearly knocked him unconscious again.

"Relax," he heard Elizabeth say. "Let us do the work."

Caine nodded and tried to comply.

The young women half-carried, half-dragged him into a small clinic. A man came over and helped them get him up onto a gurney.

"What happened?" the man asked as they wheeled him down a corridor.

"H-hunters," Caine replied weakly.

"Stupid bastards."

"Elizabeth!" the man snapped.  
"Sorry, Dad."

"Looks like a bit of hypothermia, too."

"I was afraid to warm him up," Elizabeth said. "That leg wound looked pretty bad."

"You did exactly right."

Caine turned his head to look up at the man. He was around fifty years old, thin and distinctly Asian.

"We'll worry about the paperwork later. Let's get him patched up first." He looked down at the injured man and saw the dark eyes trying to focus on him. "Can you give me your name?"

"I am Kwai Chang Caine," he answered, his voice barely audible.

"Doctor Mike Wu - and NO Time Lord jokes."

"Time Lord?"

"Never mind."

"Elizabeth, why don't you give me a hand. Sadie, you can wait outside."

"Sure, Dad."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Sadie said, ducking out of the room.  
Caine felt the prick of a needle only moments before he drifted off. 

[ [ [ [ [ 

The room was quiet as he regained consciousness. The drapes had been drawn and the overhead lights were off. Only a small reading lamp in the corner lit the room.

He let his mind drift down his body. He was warm and only a dull ache radiated from his leg and shoulder instead of the throbbing fire that had all but paralyzed him earlier. His leg felt heavy and he assumed it was in a cast.

"About time you woke up."

He turned his head to see Elizabeth sitting in the glow of the lamp, a magazine in her hands.

"How're you feeling?"

"Better. May I have some water?"

"Dad thought you'd be thirsty." She held out a cup with a straw in it. "Here you go. Don't take too much just yet."

He sipped the cool water and got his first good look at the young woman who had saved his life.

She was beautiful! Although her coloring was the complete opposite of Laura's, there was something that reminded him of the wife he'd lost. Her dark hair was pulled back into a French braid and her dark eyes were full of warmth and laughter.

"You are a nurse?"

"Sort of. I grew up helping my dad here in the clinic. He finally convinced me to go to nursing school this August, but I'm more interested in Photography."

Elizabeth's father came in. "Glad to see you're awake." He sat on a stool near the gurney. "You're a very lucky man. Another half hour or more in that snowbank and you'd have died."

"I am fortunate your daughter and her friend came along."

"Well, the bullet that hit your shoulder went right through. It's going to hurt for a while, but you should have full use of it fairly soon. Your leg's worse. The bullet broke your tibia, but we can't put it into a cast until the wound is healed. I've got it splinted for now. I'd advise you not to try to stand without checking with me."

Caine nodded.

Doctor Wu checked his watch. "In about an hour, I'll bring you some dinner. Am I right in assuming that, since you're Shaolin, you don't eat meat?"

"Yes."

"Well, Elizabeth makes the best vegetable lo mein in the state."

"That sounds very good. Thank you for helping me."

"No problem. Oh, you might like to know that the sheriff has the hunter that shot you in custody. He gave himself up about two hours ago."

"I did not see who shot me."

"Nothing to worry about. The sheriff will be by in the morning to get a statement and press charges."

"I do not wish to "press charges."

Wu shook his head.

Elizabeth smiled. "Grandmother was right. She told him you wouldn't press charges." 

"I would like to meet your grandmother."

"Tomorrow. Tonight, we need to get some food into you and let you rest. When did you eat last?"

"Two days ago."

"No wonder the cold nearly killed you," Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Elizabeth, why don't you go get dinner started? I'll stay with him until Rachel can come in."

"Okay, Dad."

The men watched as she left the room.

"Rachel Mitchell is my nurse. Today was her day off. I've asked her to come in and spend the night. We'll move you over to our house sometime tomorrow. I've already had Elizabeth and Sadie set up our spare bedroom. You can stay there as long as you like."

"You can trust me so easily?"

Wu shrugged. "According to my mother, a Shaolin priest can be trusted with the crown jewels. Rest for a while."

Caine felt a small cylinder with a button on one end being pressed into his hand. 

"Just push the button if you need anything."

Caine nodded, then closed his eyes and slept again. 

[ [ [ [ [ 

The smell of food woke him sometime later. He opened his eyes to see Elizabeth standing nearby holding a large mug.

"Hi. Dad said you could have some vegetable bouillon tonight and maybe some rice and vegetables tomorrow. He didn't want to put a strain on your system." She set the cup down on the bedside table. "Hang on a second and I'll raise the head of the bed." She pushed a button and he felt his upper body being gently lifted. "Tell me if it starts to hurt."

"Stop please," he said as gravity worked against him, pulling at his injured shoulder.

Elizabeth lowered the bed slightly and watched the tension drain from his face. She smiled. "Better?"

"Yes," he breathed.

Elizabeth picked up the mug and held it out to him. "Take it slowly."

Caine sipped the soup and felt its warmth spread through his body. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Yes, Elizabeth, I am... okay."

She gave him a puzzled look. "Grandmother told Dad and me that Shaolins can heal just about anything."

He gave her a half-chuckle. "Exaggeration," he whispered. "To heal requires great energy... the chi must be in balance." He shifted in the bed and winced. "My chi is greatly out of balance."

"How do we get it back in balance?"

He smiled. "Rest, good food and time."  
"Well, there's plenty of all three here."

"Yes. Thank you for all you have done."

"No problem." 

[ [ [ [ [ 

He regained the use of his shoulder quickly, but it took nearly two months for his leg to heal properly. In that time, he helped in the kitchen and in the clinic doing things that did not require standing. Mike Wu had no objections to Caine staying on even after his leg healed and he could walk unaided again. He spent the time visiting with Li Cho, Elizabeth's grandmother, sharing stories with her of his memories of China and teaching Elizabeth the ancient stories. He helped Elizabeth study for her entrance exams for nursing school and it seemed only right when their relationship became intimate. 

[ [ [ [ [ 

Finally, August came and it was time for Elizabeth to leave for nursing school. Mike Wu called him into his office and asked him to have a seat.

"Caine, I need your help."

"Certainly, all I have is yours."

"No, it's not that. Elizabeth's scheduled to leave for school in two weeks. I've got this feeling that she won't want to leave you."

Caine nodded. "We have become very close. Do you wish us to marry?"  
"That might solve part of the problem, but after what you told us about your wife and son, I gather you're not in a position to marry her."

"No, there is still great sadness in my heart. Elizabeth has been a light in my darkness, but I cannot marry her at this time."

"Caine, she's twenty-five years old. She can't stay with me forever. She needs a career and you've seen how well she does with the patients."

"Yes, she has a talent for comforting the sick. What do you wish me to do?"

Wu cleared his throat. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but . . ."

"You wish me to leave."

"You've been an enormous help and I appreciate everything you've done, but if I'm going to get Elizabeth on that bus... "

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"Yes. Have I your permission to return?"

"Certainly, after Elizabeth's more settled in her career, if that's what you both want."

"Have you spoken to Elizabeth of this?"

Mike shook his head. "I admit it. I'm a coward."

"She will be hurt and angry."

"I know and I can't think of any other way around it. I want my daughter to..."

"What, Dad?"

The two men looked up to see Elizabeth standing in the doorway with tears streaming down her cheeks. Mike Wu lowered his head in embarrassment. 

"Elizabeth, I..."

"Just don't say any more, Dad. I know what you two were up to. Don't worry, Caine's presence won't keep me from nursing school, because I'm leaving today."

"But classes don't start until..."

"I can stay with Sadie until it's time to leave," she informed them and bolted from the room.

"Caine, what have I done?"  
"I will speak with her," he said, standing.

"Please."

He found Elizabeth in her bedroom, hurling clothing into a suitcase. 

"May I speak with you?"

"No. You and Dad have said plenty."

"Your father did not mean to upset you. He wants only the best for you."

"Then why is he... forget it."

"I had intended to speak to you this morning. Your path lies ahead of you at nursing school and mine lies in a different direction. It is time I continued my journey."

"Then you don't..."

"Yes, I do, however, neither of us are ready for such a commitment at the present time. We must each seek our own paths. I am certain they will intersect in another time and place."

"My dad put you up to this."

Caine shook his head. "He did not. We have spoken of my son's death. I can still feel his essence and I must seek the source of that essence."

She lowered her head. "Do you promise you'll come back?"

He smiled down at her and gently lifted her chin. "I can think of no greater gift." He kissed her lips tenderly, then pulled her into his arms. "Please, speak to your father."

She nodded. "Will you stay until I leave?"

He cupped her cheek in his hand. "If that is what you wish."

She wiped at the tears pooling in her eyes. "Please."

Caine kissed her again and smiled. "Then I will stay until you leave." 

[ [ [ [ [ 

Elizabeth's eyes were filled with tears as she boarded the bus that would take her to nursing school. "You know, I've never been away from home before," she told Caine as they stood at the door to the bus.  
"I know. There is much for you to learn," he told her, smiling. "You must remember that our paths will cross again."

"I'd like that." She hugged him and turned to her father. "Dad, I'm sorry we had that fight."

"Me, too. You've got plenty of practical experience, Liz, you'll do fine. Your grandmother and I love you, don't forget that." 

"I won't."  
"As do I," Caine said, kissing her on the cheek.

"I know."

She watched her father and Caine shrink in the distance and finally turned to the front and her future.


End file.
